Daycare to House Cleaning Side Hustle?

The Ask a House Cleaner Show and Podcast with Angela Brown

Daycare to house cleaning side hustle how about it? "Neighbors are asking clean my space so I thought I'd build my cleaning business after my daycare nursery kids go home." We Ask a House Cleaner tips to earn extra money housekeeping and opened a can of worms. Turns out Angela Brown has a strong opinion about daycare children and Mom Syndrome. As a daycare provider you need your rest, exercise, sleep and a social life. And as a house cleaner or maid, you need to clean and meet your customers’ expectations. Both jobs need your undivided attention and attention to detail. Consider a babysitting assistant to help with your pre-school playgroup. Do childcare - don't clean. Today's sponsors are Savvy Cleaner Training (for housekeepers and maids.) My Cleaning Connection (a hub for really cool cleaning stuff.) And House Cleaning360 where you can find in-home babysitters and nannies.

Daycare to house cleaning side hustle how about it? “Neighbors are asking clean my space so I thought I’d build my cleaning business after my daycare nursery kids go home.”

We Ask a House Cleaner tips to earn extra money housekeeping and opened a can of worms.

Turns out Angela Brown has a strong opinion about daycare children and Mom Syndrome. As a daycare provider, you need your rest, exercise, sleep, and a social life.

And as a house cleaner or maid, you need to clean and meet your customers’ expectations. Both jobs need your undivided attention and attention to detail. Consider a babysitting assistant to help with your pre-school playgroup. Do childcare – don’t clean.

Today’s sponsors are Savvy Cleaner Training (for housekeepers and maids.) My Cleaning Connection (a hub for really cool cleaning stuff.) And House Cleaning360 where you can find in-home babysitters and nannies.

Listen: Daycare to House Cleaning Side Hustle?

Watch: Daycare to House Cleaning Side Hustle?

Hey there, I’m Angela Brown, and this is Ask a House Cleaner. This is a show where you get to ask a house cleaning question, and I get to help you find an answer.

Question: Daycare to House Cleaning Side Hustle?

From daycare to house cleaning, how do you bridge that gap? We’re going to talk about that today. Today’s question is from a daycare provider who is going to pick up some house cleaning on the side. Here’s her question.

“I have a full-time, in-home daycare and I’m wanting to do some housekeeping on the side. I still think I should treat this as a business venture. I’m just wondering if maybe I’ll have to get a little more creative to get clients. What is your advice?”

Answer: Daycare to House Cleaning Side Hustle?

All right. That’s an excellent question, and I’m going to take off my house cleaning hat for a minute, and I want to go back in time.

I’m one of 19 kids, so I’ve been around kids my entire life. And as a youth, I went and I worked with my aunt in her daycare service as an assistant so she could take on more kids.

I understand a lot of things about kids. And I want to hit your question from that angle, not from the house cleaning angle.

If I’m given a choice, to take care of kids or do house cleaning, I will always choose the child first.

Daycare vs. House Cleaning Rule

One of the rules that I have, when I come to clean a house, is this. If your kids are running around and getting into my cleaning supplies, I’m going to take care of your child first.

My first priority is the protection of your child, and so when it comes to children and house cleaning, the child always comes first.

As a daycare provider, you probably feel the same. So, to answer your question, my question is this. Why are you trying to pick up house cleaning on the side? Is it because you’re trying to expand your world, beyond being with kids all day? Or is it because you need the extra money?

Daycare to House Cleaning – Your Reasons

If it’s to expand your horizons beyond the kids, I don’t recommend house cleaning as a business.

Instead, I recommend that you join a book club or a church group or something like that where you can talk to other adults.

Daycare providers need other adults in their lives.

If you’re looking to add some extra money to your income, I recommend picking up more kids. This may mean that you need to hire an assistant so you are in compliance with state regulations for the child to adult ratio.

Or you may consider raising the rates for the children in your care.

I don’t recommend house cleaning for you.

Daycare and House Cleaning Are Both Attention Magnets

You’ve already chosen daycare as a profession. And if you too believe that the child always comes first, house cleaning won’t work for you.

Here’s the reason why. You said you were a full-time daycare provider. Which means you’re at home from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm or thereabouts.

I’m guessing this is five days a week.

So, when exactly are you going to do house cleaning? Are you going to start your side hustle of house cleaning after 7:00 pm?

And what happens when a parent is late picking up their kids? You can’t leave the kid alone while you go to your cleaning job. And you can’t stand up the cleaning client – or soon you won’t have one.

House Cleaning Customers Have Expectations

What happens if you don’t get to the job until 8:00 pm because parents are late claiming their kids? Are you going to clean from 8:00 until 11:00 pm? That’s too late to be running a vacuum with people in the house.

And if you have customers that need to activate your satisfaction guarantee – when are you going to come back for a re-clean?

Unless you hire house cleaners to work for you-you’re busy all day tomorrow.

Daycare Needs You to Get Your Rest

If you are cleaning in the evenings after a full day of managing children, when are you going to rest and recoup?

As a daycare provider, you need to be “on.” 100% of the time you need to be alert and pay attention to the kids and what they are up to.

If you show up for daycare exhausted and tired every day, parents will take their kids elsewhere. And instead of succeeding at one job you will be lousy at two.

House Cleaning Like Daycare Needs 100% Attention to Detail

You can’t use house cleaning as a way to spend an evening because you want to zone out. With professional cleaning, it’s a business. You have to pay attention to detail. Or you will use the wrong chemicals on the wrong surfaces. And then you’ll have to make an insurance claim to buy your cleaning clients new appliances because you ruined them. You will skip stuff. And then you will get fired for being sloppy.

And just like screaming kids, you will have high-maintenance customers. Some are nit-picky and will leave you to-do lists.

With housecleaning, you’ve got to be sharp. Be able to think on your feet. Be able to clean in amazing detail. And the entire time you will wish you were home sleeping.

Daycare and House Cleaning Are “On” Jobs

Both daycare and house cleaning need 100% of your physical, emotional and mental energy. Not sometimes, but every time.

And then there’s Mom Syndrome. which is where Mom’s (and this falls into your category of daycare provider) take care of everybody else first. They meet the needs of others while putting their own needs on the back burner.

If you run a daycare by day, and a cleaning service by night – when do you take care of you?

When do you run your errands? When do you go to the doctors or dentist? There has to be some downtime for you.

Daycare Providers and House Cleaners Need Exercise

Both jobs are active physical jobs that take a toll on your body and health. This means you need to do strength training to support your back, knees, shoulders, hips, and core. If you don’t you’ll burn out.

And I can’t preach the value of sleep without sounding like a broken record. And you can’t catch up on a weeks’ worth of sleep in a brief Saturday afternoon nap.

Daycare Providers Need Adults Around

And then back to the adult interaction. You need grown-up people in your life to help you keep your perspective and emotional balance. The world is so much bigger than the minds of three-year-olds.

Daycare for Extra Money

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of house cleaning but not for you. It’s the wrong job as a side hustle.

I’d check with the child care licensing requirements where you live to determine how many kids one adult can watch. And look at scaling requirements.

In the United States, in most areas, you can have up to eight children under the ages of 12, including your own, without a paid assistant. If you have a paid assistant, you can have up to 12 children in your home.

It’s also possible that you hire a student to come after school to help out and then take on a few extra after school kids that make up the difference in pay. Help bridge the gap from where you are to where you need to be.

Work Smart Not Hard

If you take on more kids, or you raise the price for the children you watch, you are expanding. You’re not reinventing the wheel by creating a whole new business.

I love your enthusiasm and willingness to “do whatever it takes.” Hats off to you for that.

My answer for you lies in finding a way to earn more money doing what you are doing now. And being available to still have your physical, mental, emotional and social needs met. It will make you a more rounded person. And you will be a better daycare provider.

About the Show

Learn how the show came to be, interesting facts about the show host, and other frequently asked questions about the show.

Resources For This Episode

Daycare: The Comprehensive Beginner’s Guide on How to Run a Nourishing and Successful Child Care Center for Children Ages 0-5 – http://amzn.to/2FGCTUR

How to Start and Run a Successful Daycare or Preschool – http://amzn.to/2pcNvom

How to Start and Run a Home Day-Care Business – http://amzn.to/2HAzEyL

Side Hustle: From Idea to Income in 27 Days – http://amzn.to/2peI3RG

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich – http://amzn.to/2FGXAzT

The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future – http://amzn.to/2FTNSxz

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